Sufi boarding school vandalized

Banda Aceh, NU Online
A Sufi-based Islamic boarding school in Sawang, South Aceh, was vandalized on Thursday — its newly built wall ruined, nearly a month after its dorm was engulfed in flames after an alleged arson attack, the school’s leader said.<>

Leader of the Al-Mujahadah Foundation School, Tengku Ahmad Barmawi, said on Saturday that he found the brick wall had crumbled to the ground, he alleged the incident was a result of vandalism on Thursday.

“We know it was vandalized. It is impossible that it [the wall] was collapsed due to wind. The compound is surrounded by trees and a strong wind couldn’t have left this sort of damage,” Barmawi said over the phone as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

Barmawi said he believed this to be another incident in a string of defacement at the institution following a proclamation by the Aceh Ulema Consultation Council (MPU) that declared the Al-Mujahadah teachings defiant in February.

In March, South Aceh Regent Husin Yusuf backed MPU’s decree and sealed the boarding school.

The authorities ordered all the students who lived in the dorm, around 35, to leave. By the time of the fire in early July, the dorm was empty. Barmawi said that before around 300 people would attend Thursday and Saturday night prayers.

“Now, only a handful of people who want to ask questions about Fiqh and Tauhid come now,” he said.

Barmawi said the intimidation started after the foundation bought a plot of land in February last year to expand the boarding school.

“Our students built a fence around the land. After that the villagers became hostile. They vandalized the fence and ordered the students to leave the school,” Barmawi said.

Barmawi said the police did not investigate seriously.

“Everything we reported; the destruction of the fences, the banishment, the arson and this most recent incident, is forgotten with time,” he said.

Sawang Police chief of Criminal Reserve Brig. Wira Afganil, said that they were still investigating the arson case. The police have yet to name any suspects, he said.

“We are having difficulties in finding witnesses,” he said on Saturday over the phone.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Haris Azhar said that the arson attack at Al-Mujahadah showed that the protection for religious rights and the right to worship in Aceh was worsening.

In November last year, an angry mob killed Tengku Aiyub and burnt his house in Bireun after the latter was accused of spreading defiant teachings.

In April, a mob of hundreds rallied in front of the Miftahusa’adah Hamzah Fansuri Al-Farisi boarding school in Aceh Besar claiming that its teachings were “unusual”.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq